Treating Impulsive Addictive And Self Destructive Behaviors

This accessible book presents time- and cost-effective strategies for helping clients break free of dysregulated behaviors--such as substance abuse, binge eating, compulsive spending, and aggression--and build more fulfilling, meaningful lives. Mindfulness and modification therapy (MMT) integrates mindfulness practices with elements of motivational interviewing, dialectical behavior therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and other evidence-based approaches. It can be used as a stand-alone treatment or a precursor to more intensive therapy. In a convenient large-size format, the book includes session-by-session implementation guidelines, case examples, practical tips, guided mindfulness practices, and 81 reproducible client handouts and therapist sheets. Purchasers get access to a companion website where they can download audio recordings of the guided practices, narrated by the author, plus all of the reproducible materials. Winner (Second Place)--American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award, Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Category

This accessible book presents time- and cost-effective strategies for helping clients break free of dysregulated behaviors--such as substance abuse, binge eating, compulsive spending, and aggression--and build more fulfilling, meaningful lives. Mindfulness and modification therapy (MMT) integrates mindfulness practices with elements of motivational interviewing, dialectical behavior therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and other evidence-based approaches. It can be used as a stand-alone treatment or a precursor to more intensive therapy. In a convenient large-size format, the book includes session-by-session implementation guidelines, case examples, practical tips, guided mindfulness practices, and 81 reproducible client handouts and therapist sheets. Purchasers get access to a companion website where they can download audio recordings of the guided practices, narrated by the author, plus all of the reproducible materials. Winner (Second Place)--American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award, Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Category

Letting Go of Self-Destructive Behaviors offers inspiring, hopeful, creative resources for the millions of male and female adolescents and adults who struggle with eating disorders, addictions, any form of self-mutilation. It is also a workbook for the clinicians who treat them. Using journaling exercises, drawing and collaging prompts, guided imagery, visualizations, and other behavioral techniques, readers will learn how to understand, compassionately work with, and heal from their behaviors rather than distracting from or fighting against them, which can dramatically reduce internal conflict and instill genuine hope. Techniques are provided in easy-to-follow exercises that focus on calming the body, containing overwhelming emotions, managing negative and distorted thoughts, re-grounding from flashbacks, addressing tension and anxiety, decreasing a sense of vulnerability, strengthening assertiveness and communication skills, and accessing inner wisdom. This workbook can be used in conjunction with Treating Self-Destructive Behaviors in Trauma Survivors, 2nd ed, also by Lisa Ferentz, to allow therapists and their clients to approach the behaviors from the same strengths-based perspective. Workbook exercises can be completed as homework assignments or as part of a therapy session. In either case, the client is given the opportunity to process their work and share their insights with a compassionate witness and trained professional, making the healing journey even safer and more rewarding.

For the first time in one volume self-harm, substance abuse, eating-disordered behavior, gambling, and Internet and cyber sex abuse—five crippling, self-destructive behaviors—are given a common conceptual framework to help with therapeutic intervention. Matthew Selekman and Mark Beyebach, two internationally-recognized therapists, know first-hand that therapists see clients who have problems with several of these habits in varying contexts. They maintain an optimistic, positive, solution-focused approach while carefully addressing problems and risks. The difficulties of change, the risk of slips and relapses, and the ups-and-downs of therapeutic processes are widely acknowledged and addressed. Readers will find useful, hands-on therapeutic strategies and techniques that they can use in both individual and conjoint sessions during couple, family, and one-on-one therapy. Detailed case examples provide windows to therapeutic processes and the complexities in these cases. Clinical interventions are put in a wider research context, while research is reviewed and used to extract key implications of empirical findings. This allows for a flexible and open therapeutic approach that therapists can use to integrate techniques and procedures from a variety of approaches and intervention programs.

Most of us have urges to engage in behaviors we know are not good for us, from splurging on gifts we can't afford to gambling. But when these urges become too much to handle, we can suffer intense emotional distress, putting our friendships, relationships, and jobs in jeopardy. Impulse control disorders are often difficult to recognize, even for those who struggle with them, but they are not uncommon. Now, the nation's leading specialists in the field offer a powerful self-help guide for the estimated 35 million sufferers and their loved ones. Stop Me Because I Can't Stop Myself tackles the essential questions on the road to healing. Also included in this hopeful and encouraging book are compelling first-hand stories of the authors' patients and invaluable analyses of groundbreaking new treatments.

Addicted? presents different ways to recognize the early and often subtle signs of addiction—much in the same way we learn to detect the early signs of cancer. But, unlike cancer, where people rush to get treatment as soon as they recognize the signs, an addiction typically is faced with great guilt and ambivalence. Addicted? provides questionnaires that screen for a wide array of chemical and behavioral addictions at all stages of development, and ends with a step-by-step guide for how to prepare oneself or someone else to overcome addiction.

A practicing psychotherapist discusses why it is so hard to break bad habits and offers new ways to make lasting changes to end procrastinating, overeating, passive aggressiveness, and other self-destructive behaviors.

What is borderline personality disorder and what can people with borderline problems do to help themselves? The treatment of personality disorder is a major concern facing current mental health services. Specialist therapies are often not available and many people with these problems drop out of treatment. Managing Intense Emotions and Overcoming Self-Destructive Habits is a self-help manual for people who would meet the diagnosis of 'emotionally unstable' or 'borderline personality disorder' (BPD), outlining a brief intervention which is based on a model of treatment known to be effective for other conditions, such as anxiety, depression and bulimia. The manual describes the problem areas, the skills needed to overcome them and how these skills can be developed. It is designed to be used with the help of professional mental health staff, ideally in a group with individual sessions to support and coach the person in the application of the skills taught. A minimum of 24 and maximum of 36 sessions are recommended. Areas covered include: * the condition and controversy surrounding the diagnosis of BPD * drug and alcohol misuse * emotional dysregulation and the role of thinking habits and beliefs * depression and difficult mood states * childhood abuse and relationship difficulties * anger management. Borderline personality disorder is a complex and challenging condition. This manual aims to explain the problems experienced by people who may be given this diagnosis in a way that clients and staff can easily understand. It will be essential reading for people with BPD and professionals involved in their care - psychologists, psychiatric nurses, psychiatrists and occupational therapists.